


Row With Your Heart

by givemesomeheda



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Boarding School, F/F, Slow Burn Clarke Griffin/Lexa, athletics, not really sure what im doing, so bear with me while I figure it out, some raven flashback pain
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-25
Updated: 2017-12-01
Packaged: 2018-05-23 04:39:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 10,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6105181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/givemesomeheda/pseuds/givemesomeheda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clarke Griffin and Lexa Woods have been competing against each other as rivals since they first picked up an oar, clashing at the state, national, and international level time and time again. Each time they compete, their rivalry grows, and with her recent loss to "The Commander" leaving a bitter taste in her mouth, there's no way Clarke is suddenly going to row with her when she transfers schools- not for her coach, not for a national title, not for a shot at the Olympics, and certainly not for a shot with US Rowing's "Bad Girl". Wait, what? That's not what she wants- is it?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Nationals, June 2015

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, so first Clexa fanfic, first au, and first AO3 work! Hopefully this comes out like how it is in my head.
> 
> No beta reader so any mistakes are mine and mine only. Drop a comment if you like it, don't like it, need something cleared up, etc(:
> 
> Terms you probably don't know if you don't row:  
> Stroke rating/rating- how many strokes per minute a rower's taking  
> Split(s)- an average based on the time it'll take you to row 500 meters  
> 2k- 2000m is the standard race length and is used as an individual measure of a rowers speed. Your 2k split is the average of four 500's  
> Sculling- a style of rowing in which their is an oar in each hand  
> Sweep- a style of rowing in which you have both hands on one oar and you can only row either port or starboard at a time

**Clarke**

  
A lot of things had changed in the past five years- her training, her physicality, herself, certainly- but the pre-race nerves were, had always been a constant for Clarke. The tight, buzzing sensation simmering low in her gut was something she had learned to embrace a long time ago. As Coach Kane was infamous for saying, "Adrenaline, nerves- it's all still energy, and at the end of the day, that's something to pull with. Harness it, and you'll have gas in the tank long after your competitors run out."

"ALL WOMEN'S VARSITY SINGLES TO THE START LINE"

  
The officials call shook Clarke from her musings, and she pulled up to lane 4, nerves being replaced momentarily by anger as she glanced to her right and caught her rival coolly staring back at her before giving her a wink and pulling into her own lane.

  
Clarke resisted the almost physical urge to growl at her as her face twisted into a snarl.

  
Lexa “The Commander” Woods. Clarkes ultimate rival, and the only one she had been unable to permanently crush. For years they’d been passing the title of “Fastest Female Youth Rower” back and forth, setting records, breaking records, constantly passing and being surpassed by one another, and, on Clarkes behalf at least, growing to despise the girl more each time they faced off.

  
But today she would be the winner- she’d been working harder and longer than ever before, putting in extra hours at the gym doing weights and on the erg- an indoor rowing machine (read: torture) used for individual training that provides instant feedback on a screen so that the user can monitor his or her own work out and see the splits they’re pulling on any given stroke.

  
Her non-rowing friends (the very few she had due to the sheer amount of time spent practicing) thought she was crazy, and even her own distant mother would raise an eyebrow any time Clarke explained her schedule to guests at the admittedly rare dinners they shared.

  
Clarke, however, didn’t really see it as a chore- this is what she loved to do. Yes, it took up every waking second of her life not taken up by school, and it’s true that when she wasn’t practicing or doing schoolwork, she was either eating, sleeping, or hanging out with teammates (never mind any significant other- she hadn’t had one in years) but this was her life and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

  
If Lexa was the unofficial “Bad Girl” of rowing she was said to be, then Clarke was her polar opposite- fiercely loyal, fiery, and responsible to the extreme, the one trait she had inherited from her mother was a drive to never do anything by half. If she was competing, she would win, and whatever work everyone else was doing, Clarke doubled it. It was simply who she was- she refused to allow her shorter stature to determine her speed in a sport where height was considered a natural advantage.

  
If she wasn’t genetically built for it, that was fine by her- she would just outwork her competitors.

  
A call from the official in the last lane snapped her out of her musings- the last rower had finally made it to their lane and was ready to go. The presiding official called alignment, signifying the race was about to start.

  
Clarke took a few deep breaths, using them to calm her mind and put her in the moment. These moments before the race were the closest thing to a religious experience she had ever had- feeling the adrenaline buzzing in her veins, hearing the water gently lapping against the side of her boat, and further off the crowd rumbling in anticipation.

  
“SIT READY”

  
Clarke took another deep breath, feeling the calm roll over her in waves, battling the nerves, the anticipation- this was the razors edge, the fine line between action and inaction, the “zone” as so many athletes referred to it.

  
“ATTENTION”

  
The muscles flexed beneath her skin as she sat at the catch, ready to explode in a frenzy of motion at that one particular word, the one that started all of this-

“ROW”

  
The second the word left the officials mouth, Clarke was already jumping back off her foot stretcher, releasing everything that had been potential energy just a moment ago. This feeling, the one of racing, was what kept her going through the harsh months of winter conditioning. It was agony to compete, but she never felt more alive than when she was seeing spots in the corners of her eyes.

  
Five hundred meters in, and she was already pulling away from all but two other rowers- one, an unknown who was clearly going too hard trying to keep up and would likely die out in the next five hundred- and the other being Lexa, of course, who didn’t seem phased at all by Clarke’s race plan, or her slight lead.

  
Where Clarke was all fire, passion, and sheer willpower on the water, Lexa was the opposite- calm, cool, and collected, rowing with an icy intensity and determination- her way of commanding the water, and the respect, if not awe, from those who watched her race was how she’d earned her nickname “The Commander”.  
Her calculating nature was exactly what makes her so hard to race against- most rowers wear their hearts on their sleeves, so to speak, when they race- one glance about seven-fifty meters in could tell you all you needed to know about how much pain they’re in, and from there, using a mix of intuition and experience Clarke could typically predict when the opportune time was to take a ten and walk them.

  
But Lexa never gave anything away and she changed her race plan up so often that it was impossible to predict what it was going to be any given race day, leaving Clarke (annoyingly) in the dark. Never mind that Clarke herself was also guilty of using that same tactic.

  
The first half of the race was gone now, and they were entering the third five hundred- the hardest five hundred of the race. This was the point in which the burning sensation in her legs and lungs became impossible to ignore. From this point to the last two-hundred and fifty meters was an all-out mental battle with pain. Physical too, but the mental push, the self-motivation, that was the true make or break of the sport and what separated the winners from those who were merely just “fast”.

  
At this point Clarke notices that the unknown had predictably fallen back and it was just Lexa and herself battling for first place, and the national title. The sweat is pouring off her body, and she knows that her arms and chest are flush with blood, giving off a bright red color to the watching crowd.

  
Her legs _hurt_. Each stroke she could feel the muscles in her calves and thighs getting that much closer to exhaustion, that much closer to giving out, and her shoulders felt as though someone had come over, poured gasoline all over them, then casually threw a lit match at Clarke while they walked away.

  
Clarke focused on sitting up and breathing deeply- good technique is free speed, and cramps come from the muscles need for oxygen. A few deep breaths throughout a race could be critical to avoiding a mid-race leg spasm that would slow her down, or so her physical trainer always said.

  
Approaching the last five hundred in the race, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lexa finally start to make her move on Clarke, bring up her rating and taking a power ten to pull even with her. Clarke responded with her own ten- pushing her aching body out of her mind, allowing her hatred for Lexa and her desire to win to take over and block the pain.

  
They were dead even barreling down the course, the announcer and crowds cheering at the edge of her periphery let her know they were close, but she could barely hear them over the pounding of her own heart in her ears.

  
The buoys changed colors- they were officially in the last two-hundred and fifty meters of the race. Huffing and puffing, Clarke knew it was now or never. She poured on every last bit of energy she had into her sprint, taking off immediately, but so had Lexa.

  
Two-hundred meters- Clarke was ahead.

  
One-hundred fifty- Lexa was edging up to her.

  
One-hundred meters- Clarke had a foot on her.

  
Fifty meters- they were dead even going into the last five strokes of the race. The crowd was screaming and people watching from the sidelines and tents were running to the finish line to see how the race would end.

  
Every stroke the lead changed by mere inches- Lexa, Clarke, Lexa, Clarke- and the irony would not be lost later to Clarke that this was essentially a physical representation for their respective careers when it came to each other.

  
Clarke was panting, every part of her body from her finger tips to her toes was in pain, and the black that had been in the edges of her vision five hundred meters ago was now eighty percent of her view with spots dancing across the rest, but she would not give up, dammit.

  
All of a sudden, Lexa jumped out ahead and stayed there, rowing like she had a fresh set of legs. Clarke gritted her teeth and bore down, ignoring the voice in her head that said there weren’t enough meters left to make up the slight gap between them.

  
They both crossed the line to two almost simultaneous beeps of an air horn and the darkness that had been steadily filling Clarke’s vision finally won.


	2. August, 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's been awhile since I updated, but 3x07 kind of forced me to step away for a couple days. Still working on improving my dialogue writing skills, so I apologize if it's a bit halted.
> 
> As always, please let me know what you think!

**Clarke**

                It had been just over two months since Nationals and Clarke was still steaming over her loss to Lexa. She felt bad for biting the head off anybody who brought the race up or congratulated her on her silver medal, but it was a knee jerk reaction at this point.

                After a thorough examination in the medic’s tent once she briefly came to, she’d had the pleasure to learn that the race had been more or less a photo finish and that Lexa had had to wait for results by the medal’s dock while paramedics took a launch out to retrieve Clarke and her single from the water.

                Never the easy patient, she’d tried to get up so she might check the results herself, but the second she stood, she collapsed again and an ambulance was called to take her to the hospital.

                The official announcement came over the loud speaker ten minutes later that Lexa had crossed the finish line a mere six inches ahead of Clarke.

                Lexa had received gold in front of a cheering crowd, while Clarke had woken up in a hospital bed with a silver medal on the bedside table and an IV in her arm.

                To say she was a little peeved about the whole thing was an understatement.

                There was a whoosh followed by a grunt from Clarke when the weight of her best friend came crashing onto her back.

“Hey princess, why the long face?” Octavia asks, maneuvering off Clarke’s back so they could walk together.

                “And by the way, whatever you’ve been doing with Indra’s been paying off- it was like running into a rock wall,” she adds with a hard slap to Clarke’s muscular back, “Very nice Griffin- the ladies would be falling all over you if you’d care enough to catch them.”

                Clarke rolls her eyes, but the twitching of her lips into a smile takes any malice out of the action. Octavia smirks back at her and bats her eyelashes.

                Clarke snorts.

                “Whatever Octavia- it’s not like I have time for all that mess anyways, and even if I did- which, again, I don’t- approximately 0.1% of the population would have the patience or fortitude to put up with my training schedule. Everybody I’ve dated has only either wanted me for my body or for their own ego, and even that only lasts until their own feelings of inferiority get in the way.”

                “It’s so hard to be a gorgeous, internationally competitive athlete with a shot at making the Olympics before she’s even twenty,” Octavia says sarcastically, putting her hand to head in a mock show of dramatics, “Woe is me and my totally perfect body,” she adds, pretending to faint.

                Clarke grabs her arm before she can make her way all the way to the ground and drags her along while she continues walking, giving her a scathing look as Octavia scrambles to get her feet back underneath her.

                “That’s not what it’s about and you know it- it’s just not worth all the trouble. I don’t need it getting me off my game, especially right now with all the trials coming up this year.”

                Octavia stops and turns to look at Clarke seriously.

                “Look, I didn’t mean to hit on a sore topic, it’s just that I worry about you sometimes- the girls on the team, we all do, Clarke. We want you to be happy,” she says, laying a hand on Clarke’s arm.

                Clarke pulls away and shifts uncomfortably.

                “I know Octavia, but I am happy. Really. And I’ll be over the moon if I make it to Rio. I really don’t need someone in my life to complicate that goal.”

                Octavia gives her a skeptical look but decides to let the subject drop.

                Feeling a little awkward herself and not wanting to exasperate the situation further, Clarke hooks her arm through Octavia’s and pastes a smile on her face.

                “Come on- let’s go get something to eat before we have to start getting ready for practice. Raven’s ridiculously hard mathematics class let out a little bit ago, so she should already be reserving the usual table for us.”

 

                The cafeteria was, as per usual, ridiculously crowded, but for the most part Clarke and Octavia were able to avoid the masses (one of few perks when it came to being part of the sliver of the schools population that actually tried to eat healthy) and locate their mutual friend, team manager, and all-around tech junkie, Raven Reyes.

                Of course the fact that she was waving her arms in the air and screaming their names from across the room didn’t hurt either.

                “What’s up losers?” she asks while deftly stealing an apple from Octavia’s tray.

                Octavia glares at her but triumphantly produces another, hidden apple from her pocket.

                “It’s a good thing you’re so predictable Reyes, or I would’ve had to go after your good leg to get that back,” Octavia says, biting into her own red apple.

                Raven shrugs. “You’d be doing me a favor honestly- it’d be much easier to roll around this stupid campus than limp.”

                Clarke hid a smile behind the piece of chicken she was eating. There had been a time a couple years ago when even the slightest mention of Raven’s handicap would’ve sent her into a rage nobody could calm her down from, so Clarke considered it a small blessing whenever Raven cracked a joke about it, even if it was a self-deprecating one, because there was a time when she’d thought she’d lost her sarcastic, compassionate, genius of a friend would never make one again.

                Three years ago, in the summer going into sophomore year, Clarke, Raven, and Octavia had been driving home from the movies when a speeding drunk driver ran a red light and t-boned them. Raven had been driving since she was the eldest of the group and the only one with a license, while Octavia had been riding in the passenger seat, with Clarke sitting immediately behind her.

                They had all luckily had their seatbelts on- the police said they probably would’ve died had they not- but when the car had hit, it had hit from the driver’s side, and the door had caved inwards, pinning Raven’s leg with a giant shard of metal in the process. Clarke and Octavia had been knocked out immediately when their heads slammed into the windows, but someone with a cruel sense of humor made it so Raven didn’t receive that small mercy.

                The only one able to feel and see and smell and _remember_ the whole accident. The one who, in that moment, had her genius work against her, calculating her survival rate as she watched the puddle of red grow around her. The one who saw her friends’ arms and legs bent at unnatural angles and saw the blood on their heads, praying this wouldn’t be the last time they’d close their eyes.

                Clarke didn’t truly know what went on during the ten minutes between her black out and the emergency responder’s arrival, but what she did know was that it had changed Raven, and that she refused to discuss it with anyone.

                Clarke and Octavia had both been diagnosed with concussions and Clarke had a broken arm and wrist while Octavia had broken a leg. Both were much more concerned with Ravens injuries though- the doctors were able to save her leg, but she would never be able to walk on it unassisted.

                For the usually active girl, this was akin to a death sentence and she spent months in a deep depression, shutting out anybody who tried to see or talk to her.

                One night, when Octavia and Clarke had decided they’d had enough, they went to her room and refused to leave through all of Raven’s threats and insults and screaming and eventually she had nothing left and for the first time since the accident, just… let herself breakdown and cry while her friends held her.

                From that point, she had truly started the process of healing, allowing her friends and family back into her life, and slowly but surely the smile appeared back on her face.

                “Hello?? Clarke, are you in there?” Raven says, snapping her fingers in front of Clarke’s face.

                “Huh? Yeah, that guy is really cute,” she replies offhandedly, guessing at the usual topic of conversation.

                “Yeah? Which guy is that?” Raven smirks, knowing she caught her friend zoning out.

             Octavia rolls her eyes at Ravens antics.

                “Come on, we don’t have time for you to play your games Reyes.” She checks the time on her phone, “We have to be at the training room in twenty minutes to show the new girl around.”

                Clarke’s ears perk up at the mention of a possible new teammate.

               “What’s this about a newbie?”

                Octavia chuckles at her sudden interest in the conversation.

                “Yeah, the one we were just talking about a few minutes ago? The mysterious no-name gal Kane is asking us to show around while he talks to her mom.”

                 Clarke jumps up immediately, a smile lighting up her face. She loved to show people around and have an opportunity to talk about the sport and team so close to her heart.

               “Let’s go then- I want to be there before they are,” she says, more or less skipping through the doors of the cafeteria.

                 Raven and Octavia share an exasperated look before following her out.


	3. August, 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, something from Lexa's perspective(;
> 
> It's a bit short, but that's just because I wanted to publish something before break and I'm not really a fan of switching perspectives in a chapter.
> 
> Please let me know what you think- I live for the feedback!

**Lexa**

                Lexa stared out the window of the moving car, trying to focus on the landscape while her mother continued to prattle on her phone.

                Pressing her forehead against the cool glass, she closed her eyes and wished for the seventeenth time in a half hour that she had brought a pair of headphones with her, despite the fact that her mother would not allow her to use them while they were both in the car, as she considered it extremely rude and socially unacceptable.

                But her mother talking on HER phone was so different because that was BUSINESS and had to do with the “real world”.

Not for the first time, Lexa wondered if adults ever thought about just how hypocritical they actually were.

                “Ha! Those idiots have no idea what they just agreed to,” her mom says with a satisfied smile, looking very much like the cat that had gotten the canary.

                Lexa didn’t know exactly what her mom’s job or position title was, just that it was very similar to what Richard Gere did in the movie Pretty Woman. So, essentially destroying people’s lives by buying financially hurting owners businesses and then breaking them up and selling them off for profit, something she enjoyed immensely, so much so that Lexa had been raised more by nannies than her own mother.

                “Lexa, dear, try not to look like you swallowed something bitter when we’re at Polis, yes? It’s very unflattering and we want to make a good impression,” her mom lectures, taking out a compact and checking her own reflection.

                Lexa snorts unceremoniously.

“We, mother? This is very much between Coach Kane and myself. Besides, my achievements, as they always have, will speak for me.”

                It wasn’t arrogance, merely a statement of fact- she was good at what she did, very good as a matter of fact, and there were very few coaches in the rowing world who didn’t know who she was or had never heard of her. Especially Kane, considering he was the coach of her biggest competition.

                Her mother gave her a sharp look.

“Do not get snippy with me young lady, especially after everything I’ve done for you.”

Lexa works to school her face into a neutral expression, not wanting to have this particular fight right now. Internally however, her blood was boiling. Yes, her mother might foot the bill from what she referred to as her “hobby”, but Lexa was the one who woke up at five in the morning each day to train for three hours before school even started, and was back training again in the afternoons. She was the one who grinded and worked her ass off to succeed, not her mother.

The car rolls to a smooth stop and a voice comes through the small speaker imbedded in the wall of the vehicle-

“Excuse me, Ms. Woods? We’ve arrived at Polis Academy.”

Her mother lightly claps her hands together.

“Excellent! Let’s get a move on so we won’t be late!”

Lexa rolls her eyes at her mother’s sunshine-and-rainbow attitude, and decides to get out of the car before Gustus could come around to open her door. Flicking her black Ray Bans over her eyes, she stretches and begins walking to the old, prestigious looking building labeled “Administration”.

Her mom sputters a bit and mumbles under her breath about “the nerve of this child” before lengthening her stride ever so slightly to catch up. It, would, of course, be beneath her to admit that she had been trying to keep up with her daughter.

Gustus held the door, and Lexa shifted her leather jacket to a more comfortable position before walking through. It was a bit of a nervous tic to adjust her clothes, but she really couldn’t help that, despite her cool demeanor, she was more than a little anxious about this meeting, and about transferring. She knew Clarke Griffin went to Polis, and though they had spent a lot of time racing against each other, they’d never actually sat down and talked before, so she really had no idea what to expect.

What she had found out through the grapevine was that she wasn’t exactly Ms. Griffin’s most favorite of people, but Lexa couldn’t really blame her considering their long-standing rivalry.

A young girl clearly serving as guide was leading her mom out of the office and gestured for her to follow. Lexa begrudgingly trailed behind them, looking around at the campus while her mom was engaging the guide in a one-sided conversation about herself and why they were here.

Lexa sighed and pulled the hood of her jacket over her head in an attempt to block them out. Thankfully, the training center wasn’t too far away from the campus- only about a fifteen minute walk- and soon the guide was leading them towards the main gym area, which was also where the coach’s offices happened to be located.

Coach Kane met them at the entrance of the building, smiling and shaking both of their hands. He was the type of man who looked completely average- brown hair, brown eyes, average height and weight- but if you looked at the way he carried himself, you could see the confidence and pride with which he carried himself.

He was a good man, she could tell immediately. That, Lexa could tell from his eyes- they had the fierce look of someone used to competing, but there was also kindness, passion, and genuineness that said “what you see is what you get” and Lexa smiled heartily back at him. This was a man she would do well under.

“It really is nice to meet you, Ms. Woods- I can’t tell you how happy I was when I heard you were interested in coming here,” he says, releasing my hand and indicating to the guide that she was free to go. “Please, follow me to my office- it has an excellent view of the indoor training area and your mother and I can talk while some of the girls show you around.”

Lexa has a slight smirk on her face as her mother struggles to hide her indignation at the fact that Kane had decided to acknowledge her first.

Kane and her mother chat on the walk to the offices about this and that while Lexa looks around, taking in the sites. It’s a pretty typical modern athletic building- very industrial and minimalist as far as decoration goes, but the equipment was all new and looked state of the art.

Having yet to see their boathouse, she had to admit it boded well for what they might have.

Coach Kane stopped at a set of opaque glass doors labelled “Polis Crew” and turned to face them both.

“Anyways, in here is our erg room, which is where you’ll spend your winter month’s training,” he explained while opening the door. “The girls should be here by n-“

“YOU.”


	4. August, 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stupid computer lost the new chapter before I could publish it, so I had to re-write it >:(
> 
> Anyways, here you go- I'll try to work more quickly towards the next chapter.
> 
> As always, please feel free to leave comments, concerns, kudos, or message me! Thank you for reading!!

**Clarke**

“YOU,” Clarke seethed when she saw who the new recruit was. Octavia and Raven looked ready to grab her in case she went after Lexa.

Kane winced at the venom in her voice and decided to nip this particular conversation in the bud, clearing his throat to get her attention.

“Clarke, could we speak in my office please?” he asks, giving her a warning look when she opens her mouth to object right there in front of Lexa and her mother. The muscle in her jaw clenches at being subtly told to shut up.

“Fine,” she snaps at him, the bite in her voice almost physical as she follows him into his office.

The second he closes the door and draws the blinds, she turns on him, furious.

“What the hell Kane?!,” Clarke rages immediately, “HER, Kane? HER! How could you do this, and without even talking to me about it first! Without even giving me a heads up that she was coming!!”

She paced the room back and forth, throwing her hands up in the air at the end of each mini rant. Kane knew Clarke better than most, so he decided to let her get it all out in one go, that way he could address it now rather than letting it fester between them.

“You’ve been my coach all these years, you’ve seen first-hand how much I hate her, how much losing to her affected me and yet you still decide to bring her here?! I know I’m just a teenage girl, but I really thought you and I had a better coach-athlete relationship than this Kane. I really thought that after all these hours of training you saw me as more of an equal, at least enough to discuss this with me beforehand,” she finished, plopping down in the chair in front of his desk, done ranting but still well beyond annoyed with the situation.

“Can I speak now, Clarke?” he says, ignoring the glare she shoots his way. If looks could kill, he’d be a pile of ash in his chair. Kane clears his voice so he has a second to gather his thoughts.

“Clarke, I know I shouldn’t have sprung this- sprung her- on you like this, and I am sorry for that,” Kane sighed and ran a hand over his face. “She emailed me about a month ago expressing interest in coming to our program. I was going to tell you, I wanted to, but you were still so upset over Nationals, it felt like I could never find the right time to bring it up with you, and all of sudden the visit was here and I figured I’d just let it be. I didn’t want there to be animosity the second she arrived on campus, waiting for her and detracting from what this school has to offer.”

Clarke fumed silently, waiting for him to finish.

“The truth is, Clarke, we need her. YOU need her.”

She opened her mouth to interrupt what she considered a massive, steaming pile of bullshit, but he cuts her off-

“You want to be an international champion, you want to make it to trials and camps in next this year and make it to Rio 2016, well, you can’t do that in a single. There is no varsity single at the Olympics Clarke, you know that,” he says, leaning forward and slamming his pointer finger on the table at the end of each statement to emphasize his point.

“You need someone else to race a pair with and she’s the only person this side of the world who can match you in power, ability, and drive. To have you both here, working together instead of competing, you can’t deny that this isn’t the best way to achieve your goals,” he finished and leaned back in his chair.

The silence that came from Clarke caused him to finally look at her, and when he did, he could practically hear the wheels in her mind turn. She turned her angry blue gaze back at him.

“Fine,” she grinded out between clenched teeth, looking less than pleased about the arrangement. “I’ll row with her, work out with her, hell, I’ll even live with her if you think it’ll make us faster, but I am not happy about this and I will not hide it.”

Kane sighed and she’s not sure if it’s in relief that she agreed with him or if it was because she had somewhat agreed to rooming with Lexa in her mini rant- something he hadn’t yet told her he had already submitted to, and gotten approved by, housing administration for this academic year.

“Duly noted,” he said with a small smile in her direction. Even if she was still pissed off about it, he at least was happy to have this all out of the way. He knew it wouldn’t necessarily be smooth sailing going forward between the two girls, but he knew the biggest hurdle had been this initial conversation and getting Clarke to agree.

He knew that despite the fact that she was mad, her agreeing meant she would act professional towards Lexa regardless of her personal feelings towards her.

“Alright, let’s get back out there,” he says, standing and ignoring the swallowed-spoiled-milk expression on Clarke’s face as she followed him to the door.


	5. August, 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY INTERNET CONNECTION

**Lexa**

Lexa sighed when the door to Coach Kane’s office closed. She’d known from the second Clarke laid eyes on her that this wasn’t going to be as simple as she had hoped.

It’s not that Lexa didn’t understand why Clarke hated her so much, and she certainly didn’t blame her for that, but she had truly been hoping that most of it was competitive fire on race day and that Clarke had a level enough head to see both the immediate and long term advantages to this arrangement.

Her mother was just standing there vacantly smiling, as, since she chose to pay little attention to Lexa’s career, she knew little about her and her rivalries. She just stood like that until- as per usual- her phone rang. She held up a finger to Lexa and gestured that she was going outside to take the call, something Lexa was more than okay with.

The door shut quietly behind her mother, and the room returned to its awkward, almost silence.

She heard the other two girls that had been sitting on the ergs with Clarke when they walked in exchanging words softly behind her. She turned around and they paused, both looking at her. Lexa found herself suddenly annoyed with the situation.

“What.” She says, green eyes sparking with suppressed anger.

The one with cane and brace stands, taking the time to looks\ her up and down, unimpressed.

“Welllll Princess Charming,” the girl drawls out, “we were just wondering if you had planned on introducing yourself or if we’re supposed to continue our discussion on whether or not you were raised with manners or not.”

Lexa’s face immediately softened, the aggressiveness leaving her demeanor- despite the girls clear sarcasm and the fact that they likely did know who she was, they were giving her the chance to be treated just like any new recruit would be.

“My apologies- you would be correct in thinking that given my behavior. I am Lexa Woods,” she states, reaching her hand out to shake the dark haired girls hand.

The girl looked down at her hand with both eyebrows raised, before shrugging to herself and accepting the handshake offered to her.

“Are you always so formal Lexa?” the girl asks, a smile briefly touching her lips.

Lexa nods. “Yes.”

The girl lets out a sharp laugh. “Oh man is this going to be a fun year. I’m Raven, by the way, and that little lady back there is Octavia,” she says gesturing over her shoulder.

Octavia doesn’t move from the erg, offering, instead, a nod of her head and a casual “Sup”.

“How long have you two been at Polis Academy?” Lexa inquires, deciding it might be in her best interest to, A) get to know some of her future teammates, and B) keep the awkward silence from descending again- she had no idea when the next break in conversation could be and she had no idea when Clarke might be returning from Kane’s office.

“All my schooling days,” Raven says, a bit of bitterness tinging her voice Lexa notes with interest- something to potentially return to if they ever became friends.

“Couple years,” Octavia grunts from the erg.

“Do you like it here?” she asks, genuinely wondering.

“I mean, no place is perfect- the foods is pretty alright, the dorms are touch and go at best, teachers depend on who you get like any place- but if the reason you’re here is the team, then that’s all you’ll need to love the place,” Raven says, eyes lighting up, “I’m telling you, you won’t find a better, more hardworking groups of gals in all the world.”

“Not to mention our fearless leader, the Great and Mighty Clarke Griffin- she’s the heart and soul of these girls- has been since day one. There’s a reason this team has become so prominent in the last five years, and it’s no coincidence it’s been throughout her time here,” she adds, Octavia nodding her head in agreement.

“Yeah, so don’t fuck it up,” Octavia tells her, half joking, half serious.

Lexa works to process this new information on her rival. Of course she knew about her- it doesn’t pay to be a rival to someone without having at least some comprehensive knowledge about them. However, the highness of which the girls spoke of her- being best friend’s aside- said a lot.

There were a lot of teammates you could be friends with “off the water”, but during practice that could change in a heartbeat- there were always girls who, either by lack of technique, purposeful lack of power, or poor attitude, ended up as the type one could just barely be near for two to three hours without throttling them half to death.

Some part of Lexa was relieved to learn that Clarke was so clearly admired by the girls, but it came and went before she could really note why that was. Probably because she’d signed on to spend so much time with her. Of course.

The door to Kane’s office opened and out slipped a sullen looking Clarke and a victorious looking Kane.

Clarke saw the three of them standing together. She opened her mouth to say something, but seemed to decide against it, posture slumping as she sighed.

“Come on, let’s go take you on that tour around campus.” Clarke says, gesturing at the door which Lexa’s mother happened to walk through at that moment.

Lexa grimaced- she did not want her accompanying them. It would only serve to alienate her from the girls and probably give Clarke another reason to hate her. That thought almost made Lexa laugh- if there was one person she could hate more than her, Lexa was one hundred percent sure it was her mother.

Everyone stood and began walking to the door.

“Ms. Woods, could you please stay with me?” Kane asked Lexa’s mom. He didn’t like her, but he’d seen enough overbearing parents in his time coaching to know how it would interrupt what might potentially be some chemistry between the three girls and Lexa, and that was something he would not risk. Strong girls made boats fast, but chemistry, chemistry was the magic that made a good boat great, and a great boat champions.

For that he would sit through the next thirty minutes with the she devil herself.


	6. August, 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been awhile, huh? Finally sat down to write some new stuff and come up with something I'm happy about.
> 
> As always, any mistakes are mine, and I'd love to hear anything you guys have to say(:

Clarke

"That's the cafeteria, there's the library, you obviously already know where the gym and admin offices are, half the classes are there, the rest of classes are there, etc etc," Clarke quickly rattled off, pointing as she practically ran them through the campus.

She looked over her shoulder and saw the three other girls trailing significantly behind her.

Clarke sighed, stopped and turned to face them.

"Come on guys, I do have other things I need to do today and I'm sure Lexa does as well," she says, sparing the girl a glance clearly conveying that what the "other thing" she needs to do is be done with this and away from Lexa.

Raven barks out a laugh while Octavia raises a single eyebrow at the uncharacteristic rudeness.

"C'mon Captain Clarke, there's no reason to act like a brat in front of our guest here," Raven said before turning to Lexa,"I'm sorry Lexa, she's really not usually like this."

Raven leaned in close to her and fake-whispered in Lexa's ear, "Must be that time of the month if you know what I mean."

Lexa let out a surprised laugh which she turned into an awkward cough, not wanting to do any more to offend Clarke than she already had by just existing.

Clarke shifted her gaze to Raven, giving her a scathing look before turning on her heel with a huff.

"As I was saying, I have other things to do today and I'm sure our guest cares more about having the chance to see the boathouse over an empty classroom," Clarke said stiffly.

"Fair enough," Raven replied neutrally.

Octavia hit her in the arm.

"What the hell!" Raven mouthed at her, rubbing at her arm.

"Don't feed the fire, you ass," Octavia mouthed back.

Lexa merely looked on with an amused smile.

Conversation lapped into an uneasy silence for another few minutes as Clarke led them farther and farther from the main campus, down a winding brick path into the forest bordering campus before bringing them to the clearing where the woods suddenly stopped.

The view took Clarke's breath away each and every time she came here. The boathouse was situated about three hundred feet from them, a modern green building about two stories tell and three hundred and fifty or so long. Clarke had always appreciated that despite the boathouse being a relatively new building, whomever had designed it had made great pains for it to match its environment, giving it a natural appearance. It looked like it had been there forever, and sometimes Clarke's eyes went right past it to the water and the mountains on the opposing shore before realizing she'd skipped over it at all.

The water was calm, as per usual. This was one of many perks to rowing on the Flamekeeper Reservoir. One of the other ones was that they were the only crew permitted to practice on the protected body of water, thanks to an agreement the school had made with the local government. That meant they could row in any direction they pleased without worrying about traffic patterns or the wake from other boats out on the water. The only thing they had to be wary of were the warning signs and buoys when you got close to the drop off for the dam, but they never went even remotely close to the danger zone.

Clarke felt the tension leave her body as the familiar mixture of awe and peace filled her. Awe at the beauty of this place, and peace at the quiet calm of the land; the gentle lapping of the water kissing the dock; the sounds of the forest filling the air; the way the sun hit the mountains made them look warm and alive. This was her home, as far as she was concerned.

Next to her she heard Lexa exclaim a soft "Wow."

"It's beautiful," Lexa said, trying to take it all in. It was easily the most beautiful piece of property she'd ever seen in her life, but it was more than that. It was the feeling of rightness it gave her- she needed to be here.

"Yeah," Clarke replied softly before thinking better of it.

Octavia stepped forward, breaking them both out of their trance.

"Uhh hey Clarke? I don't mean to interrupt, but it's 2."

Clarke checked her watch.

"Ah shit, I've got to go or Indra is literally going to kill me," she moaned, already turning to run to the gym for her PT session. Checking the time again, she thought she might just make it if she left now.

Lexa cleared her throat, but had the good graces to look a bit embarrassed.

Clarke paused. "Raven could you guys-"

"Yeah yeah Griffin, we'll finish babysitting the Commander here. Now run along before Indra goes hunting me down to complain my lack of management skills," Raven says making a shooing gesture with her hands.

Clarke hesitated a second more, looking back and forth between Octavia and Raven. There's definitely more going on here. She'd known them long enough to know when they're up to something. Between Ravens too-happy smile and Octavia's careful casual behavior, Clarke was positive the two had been scheming.

Her eyes narrowed at them. She didn't have time now, but she would most definitely figure this out later. By force, if necessary.

Just then, Clarke's phone alarm went off, reminding her she had to survive an hour long session with Indra before dealing with these two, and her odds of survival were decreasing with each minute she was late.

She gave them one last look before turning back the way they came and taking off.


	7. August, 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little things you may not know if you don't row:  
> -Shell(s) and boat(s) are basically completely interchangeable and mean the same thing  
> -The hull of a boat is the outside of it  
> -Boats are all named and that's how they're identified. It's considered the highest honor if one is named after you, and they're usually dedicated to someone who has contributed a great amount of time, money, or help to a team  
> -The name is located at the stern (head of the boat where the coxswain sits)  
> -A "piece" is any given rowing/erg workout (ex: a 10min piece, 1,000 meter piece, etc)  
> -Going "all out" means balls to the walls, nothing left at the end of it (which can result in anything from crying to throwing up to passing out, but this is the more extreme end of things and doesn't happen all that often- it usually just puts you in incredible pain and you feel like you're dying but you'll be okay in 10mins)
> 
> As always, any and all mistakes are mine and these opening viewpoints are not "facts" but merely observations and personal opinion based in my experience (that I imagine Lexa would share lol)
> 
> Please let me know what you think!

Lexa

The three girls stood in silence watching Clarke sprint off to what Lexa surmised was a session with the type of physical trainer Lexa was all too familiar with. She winced in sympathy, but part of her wished she could go as well- Lexa strongly believed that the only way to discover someone's true colors was by watching them exercise.

The hardest of workouts flipped a sort of switch in the brain that brought out survival instincts, focusing the mind and body only on the next stroke, the next sprint, the next rep. Lexa found that it was these moments of pushing ones self to the absolute breaking point that ones core self shined through- whether you were a quitter who threw in the towel when things got a little tough or a fighter who would dig in and finish the workout come hell and high water (where "hell" would consist of never ending sets and all-out pieces and "high water" was the trifecta of blood, sweat, tears plus a side of sprinting outside to throw up).

Not to mention the tiny actions that revealed a persons ethics and personality when they were with teammates suffering equally. The girls who grab another girls water bottle when they're hardly able to stand themselves, the girls who go out of the way to motivate and encourage their group during weight circuits, even the girls who make sure to bring a speaker or crack a joke every now and then to improve morale in the most painful of workouts, these are the girls you want to align yourself.

Much more than just being committed to winning the gold, these are the girls committed to a much more powerful motivator- the teammates in their boat. That deep, psychologically rooted promise- "for them"- is something that will not just push them much harder each day in practice, but that will be the thing that keeps them going when they're long past their pain threshold and *this* close to passing out.

Ultimately this is what Lexa wanted to know about Ms. Griffin. Obviously she was a fighter- if her feistiness hadn't already made it clear, no quitter would ever have made it to the international level, much less in one of the top spots. But what kind of person was she? Was she just a competitive spirit seeking gold, glory, and titles, or was there more? Lexa's brief conversation with Raven and Octavia had hinted at there being "more", but Lexa had seen many wolves in sheeps clothing over the years- girls claiming to be "team players", but later being revealed as merely using the girls they "cared so much about" to elevate their own status before dropping them for the next step.

Lexa wouldn't lie and say she wasn't necessarily one of these girls- she had bounced around plenty throughout the years, but she held no disillusionments about herself and none of her teammates did either- she was here to succeed and she was willing to do whatever it took.

Of course, what she considered to separate her from them was that she was always truthful with her intentions and she tended to remain a lone wolf in order to avoid the team feeling she owed loyalty to them, and thus the subsequent feelings of betrayal when she inevitably departed for her own next step.

Lexa knew her motivation came from within and having to worry about others would merely serve to drag her down and waste her time with those who were not adequate (nor made the effort to be) enough for her.

Truthfully, both she and her teammates were usually all the better for distancing herself- the few times she was forced to partake in workouts centered around teamwork almost always ended disastrously. Between her intense competitive spirit and the fact that she was physically leagues ahead of 99.9% of girls she'd worked with nine times out of ten it ended with girls dropping because they couldn't keep up or Lexa getting tired of carrying the deadweight and finishing it on her own. The other one tenth of the time her group might actually finish as a whole, but they'd come out of the experience despising Lexa- here they were barely able to stand while she looked like she could go three more times through and then run across town for a photoshoot with Nike.

Lexa didn't take their hatred personally as she knew it manifested from their bruised egos and inability to come face to face with the fact that she wasn't, in fact, "born superior", but that she was just a regular girl who knew what she wanted and pursued it relentlessly.

This had given her the reputation of being cold, calculating, and, unofficially- since it's not like they can print it in the rowing magazines- a bitch.

Since Lexa knew the first two to be true and the last to be false, she didn't waste her time with what anyone thought, especially those that truly didn't know her at all.

Which brought her back to Clarke.

She would admit to herself- if not anyone else- that her curiosity was definitely piqued when it came to a certain Clarke Griffin. She wondered where Clarke fell on her little mental scale and made a mental note to find some reason or excuse to be present in her next session with this "Indra".

It was then she noticed Raven looking at her very much like the cat that got the canary. It made her slightly more concerned that Octavia- whom, so far, had seemed the more reasonable, level headed of the group- was mirroring the look.

"So Lexa, now that mom's gone away, let's go play," Raven said deviously.

Her and Octavia began the short walk to the boathouse with Lexa trailing cautiously behind. It's not that she was even remotely intimidated by the girls, but it had never hurt her to be wary of people and their intentions before.

Raven produced a key to the unassuming door on the side of the boathouse. The lock clicked and she threw the door open.

"Mi casa es tu casa," she said with a flourish, flicking the light switch as she limped inside.

Looking around, Lexa had to admit she was a bit surprised. Based on the schools nationally recognized prowess she had expected a much more high tech set up, though she was secretly happy that wasn't the case- Lexa had no time for some of the ridiculous devices coaches and trainers would insist were the absolute best new thing.

Of course there were many useful things out there to improve overall fitness and technique, but Lexa was a simple kind of girl- all she needed were weights, an erg, a mirror to watch herself in, and a quiet room and she could work wonders (she already had).

"I like it," she found herself saying truthfully, eyes scanning over the familiar Vespoli racing shells but with unfamiliar names painted across the hulls.

"Clean and simple," she added with a nod of satisfaction at the sight of a full house of Vespoli's. Each rower had their own preferences when it came to the company their boats came from and hers had always been Vespoli. How could it not? She had taken her very first strokes in one.

"Yeah, we're kind of a clean and simple team," Octavia replied in a concentrated voice from a few feet away. Lexa looked up to see her pull her jacket sleeve over her hand to run away some tiny bit of dust that had accumulated on the boat.

"Speak for yourself- there's nothing simple about me and there's certainly nothing clean about Clarke," Raven snorted, though she too was taking the time to look over the equipment and make sure nothing was out of place.

Lexa lifted an eyebrow at her statement.

"Clean in the sense that...?" Lexa trailed off.

Both Raven and Octavia rolled their eyes.

"In the sense that she's a complete slob when it comes to anything but this boathouse and these boats," Octavia said, wrinkling her nose. "I mean, she's not a hoarder or anything, but I also wouldn't be surprised if you don't see the floor of her side of the room from move in to move out."

"And, of course, if you ever tell her we said any of that, we'll just pull the best friends card and deny all of it," Raven said, flipping her hair before meeting Octavia for a high five.

Lexa frowned in confusion.

"Wait, how do you know we're rooming together?" She asked looking back and forth between the two.

The mischievous smiles from earlier reappeared.

"Let's just say a little birdie told me," Raven told her with a wink.

"Yeah, and then this little birdie told me," Octavia said with a gesture to Raven. "Pun absolutely intended," she added, laughing at her own joke.

Raven sighed and shook her head at her longtime friends antics.

"It's actually amazing how unfunny that joke continues to be even after all these years."

"You love me," Octavia says, striking a pose and giving Raven a saucy wink.

Lexa awkwardly watches the verbal exchange between the two of them continue, getting the acute feeling that if Clarke were there the banter wouldn't change at all, except that there would be a third voice hurling insults and adoration in equal parts.

For the first time since she was just starting out Lexa felt a pang of loneliness in her chest and couldnt help but think how nice it must be to have a friendship like that, or any friendship at all.


	8. Mid-August, 2015

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wow it has been a long time. My own life has been pretty insane lately but this story has been in the back of my head recently and I've finally had some free time to re-read what I'd previously written and decide where to go next.
> 
> It's not a long chapter, but they rarely ever are and I just wanted to put something out there again to be honest.
> 
> I'm a little rusty with writing so I'm sorry if it doesn't quite flow the same, but I tried. It'll come back with time, I hope.
> 
> Thanks for reading, and as always any mistakes are mine.

Clarke

Clarke huffs a strand of hair out of her face as she makes the final adjustment to her side of the dorm rooms layout.

"There we go," she says with a triumphant smile and a satisfied nod of her head.

She had been at it all morning, taking advantage of her earlier move in time to set things up the way she liked them before Lexa got there. All morning she had pointedly been avoiding even looking at that side of the room, as if by ignoring it she would some how prevent the inevitable from happening. In her defense, it had technically worked so far.

It wasn't that Clarke hated Lexa per say, it was just that she didn't trust her. Or like her. Or think she was a good person. And Clarke knew for a fact that Lexa doesn't have the best interests of the team in her heart. It was a well known fact that Lexa didn't stay anywhere very long and honestly she'd probably be gone from Polis by the end of the semester, if not sooner.

It was that disloyalty that Clarke literally could not at all understand, much less justify. She was one hundred percent loyal to each and everyone of her teammates and had worked hard to elevate Polis alongside herself as she started to become known on the national and international levels. To abandon them for her own selfish desires was unthinkable. She wouldn't be able to sleep at night much less join another team and do the same thing over again.

If Clarke decided to admit it to herself, she was more threatened by Lexa than anything. Not so much on a personal level- that back and forth had become almost routine to her at this point- but more like a momma bear protecting her cubs. She and Octavia and Raven had all worked hard to establish the culture of the team and help be at the forefront of turning it into a tight-knit group of competitive girls who supported each other as much as they competed against one another and Clarke could definitely admit that having a well known "lone wolf" type who had a reputation of dominance as well as being a cruel teammate concerned her. After all, it only takes one bad apple to ruin the bunch.

Good God, this room is hot- they must not have turned the air conditioning on yet, Clarke thought to herself. She lifted the hem of her tank top to wipe her forehead clean of the sweat that had gathered there and nearly had a heart attack when she heard the scuff of someone's shoe on the floor. She dropped her shirt and whipped around to find Lexa standing in the doorway holding a box.

"Maybe you want to knock or something next time?" Clarke snapped, glaring at her and failing to the slight heat in Lexa's eyes.

"Seeing as to how this is also my room, I don't see how that's exactly necessary," Lexa replied in her usual cold voice. She stepped further into the room and put the box on the floor.

Clarke huffed but chose not to say anything else. Maybe, just maybe, if she ignored Lexa, Lexa might cease to exist.

Or not, Clarke thought as the sound of Lexa rustling through her belongings filled the room. Her polite upbringing warred against her dislike of Lexa as she noticed had only one box and a backpacks worth of stuff so far and most likely had much more to bring up. Her mothers voice scolding her for her rude treatment echoed in her and politeness won out.

"Do you need an extra hand bringing in the rest of your stuff?" Clarke asks her, injecting enough attitude to satisfy her personal feelings on Lexa.

"No," Lexa replies over her shoulder. "This is all I have with me."

Clarke's surprise gets the best of her and a question tumbles out against her will.

"But what about all of your clothes?"

Lexa lifts a handful of spandex and tank tops out of the box.

"My mother is having a box of my regular clothes delivered and my school items are waiting for pickup, but for now this is all I'll need," she replies taking out a few more neatly folded shirts, shorts, and joggers.

They both fall into a neutral silence and Clarke decides to lay in her bed and read for a bit since neither Raven or Octavia will be moving in for several more hours.

She notices out of the corner of her eye- because she definitely doesn't care and isn't wondering what someone like Lexa might decorate her personal space with- that Lexa really must enjoy the Spartan lifestyle. Outside of workout clothes and shoes, the only other items she unpacks are a small handful of books, a laptop, and journal with a pen on the spiral.

Once Lexa is done unpacking she leaves to presumably pick up her schedule and aforementioned "school items".

"Curiouser and curiouser," Clarke mumbles under her breath as Lexa leaves, eyes tracking her out the door.


	9. Mid-August, 2015

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been a minute! I know some people have been disappointed by my unpredictable updates and view the chapters as short, but one reason for that is that a) I'm a human being with my own very busy life and b) I hate switching perspective mid chapter, though for some shared interactions it will happen. I hope it is known that while I am slow to update at times, I haven't abandoned this story and I don't plan on it. Also, that with this update, I've officially hit 10k words!!!
> 
> This might be a boring chapter to read for some people, but I'm really not in a rush to force the plot along and therefore to push interactions between Clarke and Lexa. I like to take my time exploring how I think they would react/think about things and I want them to be more complex than what forced interaction would show. All things should flow and I did say this would be a slow burn! (Though things will begin soon what with the school year starting up!)
> 
> As always, any mistakes are all my own and I would love to hear feedback!

**Lexa**

Lexa is all too happy to leave Clarke in her- or should she say "their"- new room to go pick up her new things for class. As per her usual self, Clarke was acting standoffish and it irritated Lexa on several levels.

For one, the entire time she was unpacking she could feel Clarke's glare between her shoulder blades. It's not that it bothered Lexa to be stared at- what with the minor level of celebrity status she had accrued in the rowing world, she had long ago overcome that.

No, it was that Clarke apparently did not seem to understand this was far from Lexa's ideal situation either. She didn't want to share a living space with anybody. In the past, her talents had allowed her the upper hand in terms of negotiating the stipulations of her joining other programs similar to Polis Academy's and one of those term was always that she be allowed to reside in a single room. No one could ogle her or bother her, and she would never have to put up with anybody’s schedule or social life conflicting with her strict regimen.

Polis, however, had been an entirely different- and admittedly uncomfortable- situation. She had been the one who wanted to come here, something that had never happened before. Historically speaking, she had merely mentioned to a few choice ears that she was ready to move on from wherever she currently was and within twenty-four hours she had coaches begging her to come to their team, willing to do whatever they could to try and sway her. Scholarship? Done. Single room? Done, even if they had to kick someone out. Set her own training schedule? Absolutely, as long as she showed up on race day wearing their teams uni. Only have blue toilet paper in her bathroom? She had never asked, but she was sure it was something she could demand.

Anything she could possibly desire would be hers the minute she mentioned it in passing and as long as the school fit her other criteria, she essentially went to the highest bidder. It was that simple.

  
Here though, it wasn't that simple- here she had had to reach out to Coach Kane and explain her intentions to him. Of course, when she had been talking to him, she tried her best to use what her mother had taught her and negotiate as though she had the upper hand, but both her and Kane knew that wasn't the truth. It wasn't that Kane wasn't eager to add a champion rower to his roster, it was more that he wasn't dazzled by her and he didn't need her per say- he already had built a very solid program and he already had one of her in Clarke. Technically, by those standards she was a superior model in terms of her leadership ability and drive to improve her teammates, something that Lexa simply had no interest in.

No, Kane didn't need her the same way other coaches did, but for as warm and kind Kane was, he was a very shrewd man interested in playing the long game. He knew what Clarke's goals were and he knew that those goals were shared by Lexa and that that was the only reason she had come to him for a spot on his team. For as much rivalry and individual one-ups man ship went on between Clarke and Lexa, they both had an exponentially better chance at reaching their goals of making the Olympics if they started training and competing together now.

In that way, it had really been a no-brainer for all parties involved, but that didn't mean that Lexa could expect that same special treatment that she typically enjoyed. No, here she would live with her teammates, practice with her teammates, and otherwise spend time at any team bonding events put out by Clarke.

Lexa would be lying if she said it didn't rankle a bit. She hated to feel trapped like this.

Lexa’s supplies were finally ready and one of the bookstores perky employees handed the box to her with a giggle and a flirtatious wink. Lexa unleashed her best devilish smile in response and was about to engage “Cindy” as the girls name tag read when she saw the time and sighed. It would have been a fun way to blow off some of the tension that had settled in her from moving in this morning.

  
Somehow, she had wasted an hour and a half here and it was almost time for her four o’clock training session. It was not mandated- officially, the team did not start practice for another week as Kane liked to give the girls time to adjust to being back on a full schedule before throwing them into the deep end of the pool- but Lexa would not let the fact that she had to practice with the team’s schedule extend to her additional training sessions. Especially now with the first of the trials in only a few months’ time.

The girl was approaching her with a seductive sway to her hips, but Lexa waved her off and left to drop her things off in her dorm. Thankfully, Clarke wasn’t there when she got back, and Lexa would be lying if she said she didn’t breathe a sigh of relief. It was a small mercy to not be glared at while she got ready for the gym, but a mercy nonetheless. She wondered if she would ever be able to alone in a room with Clarke without her glaring at her and smiled briefly at the thought of Clarke sleeping with her eyes open and face set in an angry mask aimed at Lexa.

She didn’t like the animosity between them, but it wasn’t her fault and honestly? If Clarke was going to act like an angry child, Lexa was perfectly fine with living fully up to her reputation of a cold bitch.

  
After all, they didn’t need to like each other to row together. Still, it would be nice if they did Lexa thought to herself as she left their dorm and headed to the gym.


End file.
